KLANG, 10 July: The National Water Services Commission (SPAN) and the Selangor Water Supply Company (SYABAS) conducted a surprise raid at a fishing pond today.

The Executive Director of Projects and NRW, Yusof Badawi, who led the operation, said that investigations found that the premises made a connection through a shortcut on the SYABAS main pipe.

He said that the premises has a water supply account, however the High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) pipe connection was not done through any meter.

“A chlorine test was done to confirm that the supply received is the SYABAS treated water, based on the colour of the water.

“We suspect that the water supply through this illegal connection is used for the construction of a new pond on the premises,” he said during a press conference which was also joined by the SPAN Corporate Communications Director, Carol Pelly.

Earlier, he led some authorities to cut the connection, in addition to issuing the Notice of Offences and Enforcement Action to claim SYABAS’ losses.

“We estimate the loss to be approximately 14,392 cubic metres of treat water, worth about RM30,000,” he added.

Individuals or parties found making connections from the main connection, other than the licensee, is guilty under Section 123 (1) of the Water Services Industry Act 2006 (Act 655).

If convicted, they can be fined up to RM100,000 or imprisoned for a term not exceeding a year, or both under Section 123 (3) of the same Act.

Since early 2014 to July 8, SYABAS has recorded 1,868 complaints of water theft and 176 of them have been classified as authentic.

The estimated loss of water from these cases is about 2.2 million cubic metres of water at a cost of RM5.2 million.

NS